Finnish Revolution
"Come and listen to a story 'bout a country named Spain Poor little nation barely kept it's people sustained Then one day it got Africa from a French dude, And up through the ground came a bubbling crude (Oil that is, black gold, Saharan tea) Well the first thing you know old Spain's a billionaire European folk said Spain move away from there Said Finland is the place you oughta be So they loaded up the truck and they moved to Helinski" -Vilageidiotx, Sporum Precipice OOC The Finnish Revolution was a episode of violence in the early 70's born from the lack of governance in Russia after the Czar's death. Contention only got worse when Communist Revolutionaries inspired by the growth of Neobolshevikism came onto the scene, complicated a nationalist revolution and turning it into a political revolution in the hand of communist forces rallied by Frihet-Kampe Sven. Sven's communist forces were backed by the Chinese and Bolshevik forces in Russia, where as the aristocratic royalist boyars of Southern Finland recieved support from the Spanish government and her allies. The war spanned several months before being ultimately decided at a summit in Addis Ababa by request of Ethiopia, which feared a break down in peace and a second Great War. Ultimately peace was decided and declared with an armistice cutting Finland into two states ruled independently by the competing ideologies. Background Finland had been under Russian occupation since the First Finnish War where the armies of Imperial Russia seized Finland from Sweden in 1809. Since then Finland had assumed the title of an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire. Finnish Nationalism only materialized in Finland in the 1860's under the Fennoman Movement, which'd be a precursor to the Vallankumous Movement who would replace them in the 1960's and 70's. Famine in 1866-1867 forced Saint Petersburg to lift many economic restrictions and encourage investment in the region to alleviate the effects of Europe's worst famine to that date. As an effect they recovered and investment in the grand duchy soured with the local GDP becoming half that of the United States and a third that of Great Britain. The Great War and the failure of the original Bolshevik movement however drew significant changes to the Finnish politic. After the dust of revolution settled Czar Nicholas II clamped down on the autonomous rights of the Russian territories in order to homogenize the laws and rights of the Russian Empire and centralize the territories onto Saint Petersburg. As a result the Fennoman Movement collapsed by greater assault of the Russian Secret Police and to be replaced by the Vallankumous Movement later. Vallankumous Movement Viktor Laine and Juhani Mikhael revived the concept of Finnish Nationalism in the 60's and the 70's after pressures of Nicholas II's heir Peter IV. The movement attracted a wide-range of personalities of numerous social and political classes who sought independence from Russia. Though politically a failure, the independent actions of Viktor Laine and Juhani Mikhael reached as far as the Tzar and his family to cut off the head from the Russian snake and to throw the state into chaos. The resulting Anarchy presented the opening for which Finland could gain formal independence. Though it was yet to be finished with its own blood. Sven In the post-Vallankumous politics of Finland arose a figure by the name of Frihet-Kampe Sven. An enigmatic speaker and former mid-levelman in the original Vallankumous movement he had at his disposal the resources and ideology to challenge the disunified and messy affair that was Finnish Politics in the months and years after the collapse of the Vallankumous. Having joined the movement in the 60's Sven rose into the ranks and was eventually charged with petitioning for support across Scandinavia, often entering the political rings of the regional governments or seeking out freedom fighters for the communities around. His travels and service to Viktor Laine and Juhani put him into contact with a number of powerful people, or to systems he felt broken. To him, the governments of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway were an improper mess, no different than the Russian state of old. They needed to be reformed as much as Finland would need to be reborn. In response he wrote several treatises against them, and explored Socialism as a means for revolution and explored the methods by which it could be used. Frihet-Kampe Sven had large-scale dreams to unite Scandinavea in socialism as China had in Asia by the 70's. And in the vacuum created in the region by the collapse of the Russian Empire he had the means he felt to act on his dream as China had. Sven was a quick mover, and pressed his contacts abroad to open chapters for his proposed party across Scandinavia, issuing the first copies of his manifesto abroad as a basis for his movement. Lost and leaderless he rallied the men of the Vallankumous movement and reformed them into a Proletariat movement against the princes and aristocrats that assumed their rule over the Grand Duchy of Finland, themselves intent on winning the crown of the Russian Empire. Sven's War Liberation of Oulu The first major battle in Finland under Sven was the Liberation of Oulu. Commanded by Oskar Eerikäinen, Revolutionary forces were able to take advantage of the poorly defended and affluent town. In all the town fled within the day with minimal accounts of resistance, save for some militia combat. Bloodless Liberation Through the heading of Commander Virputin and arrangements between the Neobolsheviks in Saint Petersburg lead to the bloodless liberation of Joensuu, which had been abandoned as Finnish forces diverted west to deal with Virputin's contemporary; Oskar. Never the less the situation did not lessen the heating political climate as it continued summoning more international attention. Foreign Intervention The victory in Oulu did not go unnoticed by the rest of the powers in Europe, or even Asia. China was quick to announce its support for Sven and promised his burgeoning state the protection it needed for success. From Spain and France there was heavy condemnation for the war and both parties demanded Sven's forces step down. However the Revolutionary forces wouldn't be deterred and several days after Oulu Oskar Eerikäinen began to lay siege to Vaasa, shelling it heavily with captured guns and utilizing captured civilian vehicles to rush the city. By which point the Finnish commander's goal was subjugation of the western country side of Finland. As with Oulu, the inept and missing armies of the Finnish Imperials weren't present, allowing for rapid occupation of the western town. The failure of Finnish compliance greatly aggitated Spain. Prime Minister Tejero dispatched without haste, from Lisbon a small contingent of Spanish vessels for the Finnish coast to assist in quelling the tide of Communist growth. Counter Revolution and Peace Full fledged intervention in the conflict did not occur on Spain's part until the Battle of Helsinki almost a month and a half after the fall of Oulu. The Finnish monarchists established a defense at the seat of the Finnish Grand Duchy as the Spanish navy bolstered their defense off to sea, as well as offering a platform from which to bomb incoming communist forces as they closed on the city. Though there were still scattered enclaves and exclaves of monarchy support throughout the countryside of the nation's interior the fall of Helsinki would give almost defacto control of the interior to Sven's forces, making it a strategic target to his twin commanders. The battle was long and wrought heavily with Spanish paratroopers arriving in Mid-march to relieve the Finnish defense. All the while the Spanish fleet patrolled the southern coast making landings to reverse Communist gains. The newly built carrier, the La Vanguardia assumed its role as being Spain's newest projection of power as well as the flagship of the Spanish mission in March. The desperate situation in Finland threatened to bring wide-scale war with Chinese threats to intervene becoming loud from Asia. In the middle, Eastern European powers and Africa feared the likelihood of a Second World War, esspecially should the situation create the condition for increased Chinese involvement in Russia to restore Sven's power post-war. Yohannes Iyasu opened the table for peace in Addis Ababa and invited all involved and interested parties in an effort to stop the war before it really begun. Peace The Summit of Addis Ababa formalized peace in Finland, but not without a significant price and heavy quarreling from all sides. In attendence were the two involved parties in Finland, China, Spain, France, Ukraine, Ethiopia, and much of the Asian ASB (Radek's communes had other matters to attend to that kept them from lending their timely voice). Yohannes hoped to reconcile the differences of the two parties and to create the conditions for which they may work together, or to share the state. China would have complied with the deal though Spain staunchly demanded the disarmament and disbanding of Sven's socialist movement. Movement on a deal was not made until the Spanish flagship, the Vanguardia was sunk at night by a Chinese submarine, which also took out a number of other Spanish vessels thus crippling the Spanish war effort in Finland. Though they had the resources to adjust for a new coarse of action the event was shocking enough to force Spain to concede to a divided state approach, ceding the north of Finland to Sven and leaving southern Finland to the Monarchy forces as the Grand Duchy of Finland. Controversy The move in general is considered controversial in Northern Finland for giving the communists the short hand in the territorial deal. Despite objections from Sven and his dellegation the deal however went through. With the Neobolsheviks they contest that the Grand Duchy is still illegitemate and that they having the underpopulated and frozen northern section of the country was a poor move. The Chinese contend in their defense it was their only move. From a strategical standpoint: in order to examine and reconsolidate power to sieze control of an opportunity to finish the mission. Thread Link For referential purposes, or if/when this should be detailed more thouroughly. This is the link to the application page for Prospo: http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/1290/69131.page Do note, much of what is said on Denmark is deemed non-canonical. Category:Conflicts Category:Europe Category:Communism Category:Russian Civil War